Slaying Victims' Kin Seethe At Arraignment

Suspect Arraigned In Slayings

Yolanda Vila had two impulses Tuesday as she sat in a corner bench at Hartford Superior Court, watching steel-eyed as the man charged with killing four members of her family came into view.

The first was to vault the bar and attack John Camacho. The second was to arrange, or at least imagine, a face-to-face meeting to pose a painful, lingering question.

"I just wanted to ask him: Why? Why did you do it? I wanted to scream it out," Vila said after Camacho's brief arraignment.

It is a question that has haunted her family, and her community, for months: Why a quiet religious couple and their two children would be gunned down -- shot as many as nine times -- in their rural South Windsor home.

Alcibiades Marquez, 48, his wife, Santa, 46, -- Vila's mother -- and the couple's children, Jonathan, 14, and Crystal, 6, were apparently shot to death in their King Street home. Two days later, the bodies of Santa Marquez and the children were found wrapped in blankets near the Brooklyn Bridge. Alcibiades Marquez, who was known as Al, was found in the basement of the home.

Camacho, who is Vila's cousin, was arrested in New York after a boyhood friend, Luis Garcia, said he helped Camacho load the bodies into the Marquez' station wagon and dump them in Brooklyn. Al Marquez was left behind, Garcia told police, because they were unable to lift his body.

Camacho, 22, lived with the Marquez family for about a month and a half in the spring. But relatives of the family said he became lazy and untrustworthy. At the end of June, Al Marquez told Camacho to leave.

Camacho took a room at the YMCA in Hartford. On July 24, he took a cab to a gun store on the Berlin Turnpike and bought a blue-steel .44 caliber handgun, according to records collected by police.

Police said they believe that less than a week later, he went to the Marquez home and fired the gun 20 times or more.

Camacho appeared to have lost weight since his arrest, said his

cousin. The 22-year-old suspect said little during his brief appearance.

He is charged with four counts of murder and one count of capital felony. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death. His next court appearance was scheduled for Nov. 10.

Vila said her family's religion teaches that only God should give and take life. But on Tuesday, she looked into the eyes of the man she believes killed much of her family. And she said later her faith in that teaching was shaken.

"I'm very confident that he's going to get what he deserves," Vila said.